The formulation and implementation of policies to deal with groundwater overuse in Morocco: which supporting coalitions?

The Moroccan administration is showing increasing interest in designing policies to tackle groundwater overuse. In particular, it aims to set up aquifer management contracts for the main overused aquifers, which should bring together broad coalitions of actors around coordinated supply and demand policies. This article analyses to what extent the actors involved in groundwater use and management come together for the definition and implementation of policies to deal with groundwater overuse in four regions. A broad coalition has been built around the design of an aquifer management contract only in the Souss. Catchment management agencies and the Ministry of the Interior collaborate to control the drilling of boreholes in the Saiss, Souss and Berrchid regions. Large-scale farmers in the Souss support the Ministry of Agriculture in developing more water resources. Small-scale farmers were involved in none of these coalitions. The depth of the aquifer, the importance of the groundwater economy in each region, and the motivation and capacities of actors help explain the diversity in the coalitions that were created. While such elements help define the specific needs to support coalition building in each case, in all cases, particular human resources and skills will be needed to catalyse such coalitions, as will innovative ways to include small-scale farmers